Psychiatrist and historian George Makari tries to illuminate the historical evolution of our understanding of the conscious mind and how it relates to the brain. Soul Machine: The Invention of the Modern Mind, according to this review in Scientific American, “masterfully describes how consciousness, mind and soul are shape-shifters that philosophers, theologians, scholars, scientists and physicians seek to tame, by conceptualizing, defining, reifying, denying and redefining these terms through the ages to come to grips with the mystery that is our inner life.”
